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He wasn't talking to SNA on the tape, he was talking to SMO (where he took
off from.) This is just TMZ looking for any tapes they can get their hands
on and trying to whip up some web hits. As far as I know, there aren't any
public tapes of the landing at SNA.

He wasn't talking to SNA on the tape, he was talking to SMO (where he took
off from.) This is just TMZ looking for any tapes they can get their hands
on and trying to whip up some web hits. As far as I know, there aren't any
public tapes of the landing at SNA.

--
Don Poitras

The Long Beach Airport must be breathing easier, or is LGB still on Ford's hit list ??

Harrison Ford was contrite and apologized to air traffic controllers at John
Wayne Airport in Orange County last Feb. 13. The FAA released tapes
https://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/2017-02-13/ of two
radio exchanges and one phone call between Ford and John Wayne tower
personnel on Friday. “I’m the schmuck who landed on the taxiway,” Ford told
tower personnel in a phone call shortly after putting his Husky down on
Taxiway Charlie instead of Runway 20L as cleared. “I landed on Charlie?” he
asks incredulously when a controller gives him the bad news after he
cleared, by less than 100 feet, an American Airlines Boeing 737 holding
short of the runway Ford was supposed to use. The cool-as-a-cucumber
controller tells Ford to keep taxiing on the taxiway to an intersection and
hold where he’s asked to copy down the phone number for the tower to discuss
a “possible pilot deviation.” He’s then cleared to the FBO.

During the call to the tower, Ford has to dig through his backpack to find
his pilot certificate and the FAA employee tells him the delay “is not a big
deal” and to take his time. “It’s a big deal to me,” said Ford. The actor
and longtime pilot tells the tower man by way of explanation that he was
distracted by the airliner turning to hold short of the runway and by the
turbulence from an Airbus that just landed. He apologized several times to
the tower worker. There is also tape of a phone call from the captain of the
737 that Ford overflew who told a tower staffer that he was compelled to
report the incident. He also pointed out that the tail of his aircraft is 42
feet tall in reference to his perception of how close Ford came to his
aircraft. The pilot is assured the FAA is looking into the incident and that
the Husky was not cleared to land on the taxiway.

Harrison Ford was contrite and apologized to air traffic controllers at John
Wayne Airport in Orange County last Feb. 13. The FAA released tapes
https://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/2017-02-13/ of two
radio exchanges and one phone call between Ford and John Wayne tower
personnel on Friday. “I’m the schmuck who landed on the taxiway,” Ford told
tower personnel in a phone call shortly after putting his Husky down on
Taxiway Charlie instead of Runway 20L as cleared. “I landed on Charlie?” he
asks incredulously when a controller gives him the bad news after he
cleared, by less than 100 feet, an American Airlines Boeing 737 holding
short of the runway Ford was supposed to use. The cool-as-a-cucumber
controller tells Ford to keep taxiing on the taxiway to an intersection and
hold where he’s asked to copy down the phone number for the tower to discuss
a “possible pilot deviation.” He’s then cleared to the FBO.

During the call to the tower, Ford has to dig through his backpack to find
his pilot certificate and the FAA employee tells him the delay “is not a big
deal” and to take his time. “It’s a big deal to me,” said Ford. The actor
and longtime pilot tells the tower man by way of explanation that he was
distracted by the airliner turning to hold short of the runway and by the
turbulence from an Airbus that just landed. He apologized several times to
the tower worker. There is also tape of a phone call from the captain of the
737 that Ford overflew who told a tower staffer that he was compelled to
report the incident. He also pointed out that the tail of his aircraft is 42
feet tall in reference to his perception of how close Ford came to his
aircraft. The pilot is assured the FAA is looking into the incident and that
the Husky was not cleared to land on the taxiway.

In the attempt to include relevant factual information regarding the subject
of this message thread, the radio and telephone communications audio
recordings of Mr. Ford and the airliner captain over whom he flew, and the
ATC staff (obtained under FOIA) are on-line hehttps://youtu.be/roRhnd8kZ6A

What I find interesting is Ford's statement, that he had lost his Airmans
Certificate, and he was searching for a temporary certificate (at 15:38 into
the video: https://youtu.be/roRhnd8kZ6A?t=14m16s ). I don't recall ever
having received a temporary certificate from the FAA. Curious.

Given the prescribed technique for wake turbulence avoidance is to land
beyond the airliner's touchdown point, and the runway 20L 2,887 foot length,
Ford's concern with the potential of encountering wake turbulence was
appropriate. Faced with such a situation, I'm unsure what I'd have done,
but a prudent PIC might have gone around. On the other hand, a Husky
probably has a short-field landing figure of ~600', and with a steep slip
and on the back-side of the power-curve, probably significantly shorter.
But, that would have required short-field calculations during the
flight-planning phase...